Best 5.1 speakers for under $300
- Thread starter snidy1
- Start date
Just courious.. why would you want an expensive 5.1 system if your mainly going to be playing games and music?
newegg has the Logitech z-680 for $307, with free shipping.
i'll add that the free shipping is a big plus because it costs a lot to ship 50+ lbs.!
5.1 is only useful when you watch dvd's. when i play mp3's only my friend's 5.1 speakers, the sound only comes from the front and rears, not the front. essentially the center speaker is wasted. maybe he didnt set it up correctly?
if 5.1 isnt a big deal, go for the much cheaper Logitech z-560. i have never heard of anyone not being happy with them.
i'll add that the free shipping is a big plus because it costs a lot to ship 50+ lbs.!
5.1 is only useful when you watch dvd's. when i play mp3's only my friend's 5.1 speakers, the sound only comes from the front and rears, not the front. essentially the center speaker is wasted. maybe he didnt set it up correctly?
if 5.1 isnt a big deal, go for the much cheaper Logitech z-560. i have never heard of anyone not being happy with them.
Does a Digital Decoder matter for music or games? I don't watch movies on my system, so would 4.1 be better for me?
if you're looking for future-proofing, 5.1 would be nice. games in the future might use dolby-digital. but for now 4.1 should be sufficient
if any of your music cd's are encoded in dolby-digital, then the digital decoder would take advantage of it.
if any of your music cd's are encoded in dolby-digital, then the digital decoder would take advantage of it.
5.1 is the way to go given the direction current games are migrating. As games begin to mimic movies, the positional sound in games has shifted as well. On a 5.1 set-up the difference is noticeable, as speech/dialogue and main effects are reserved for the center channel and better positional effects move to the Front L/R and Rear L/R channels. Most quality sound cards will also upmix stereo/analog music sources to 5.1 as well, and DVD-Audio also benefits from a 5.1 set-up. There's no point in getting a 4.1 set-up now given the marginal increase in cost.
As for having a $300 speaker set-up for just games and music, its most definitely worth it if you have a quality sound card to match. Why would you settle on lower quality sound on your PC over a HT or your car? Similarly, I don't understand how some people justify $300 video card upgrades every 6-12 months and play on a 17'' monitor (actually VIS is usually lower). Don't cheat your senses; any marginal increase in fps or megahertz will be far less noticeable than what you are seeing and hearing on a daily basis.
I would go with more inputs if possible, even if that means getting a decoder. The Z-680s and Megaworks 550s have built in DD 5.1 decoders, which basically make them mini-receivers. More inputs is a good thing even if you don't use them now. The digital input and decoder offer future flexibility if you decide on watching DVDs down the line or if you want to use your speakers for a next-gen console (XBox can use it currently) or if you plan to use an onboard solution that benefits from it (nForce SoundStorm).
Chiz
Yes, I would personally rate them ahead of the more expensive Klipsch as well.
No they don't. The Megaworks has no decoder or digital inputs.
Hmm, maybe I was thinking of the 650s? In that case, I would go with the Z-680s if the price is similar.
Chiz
Edit: nope, not on the 650s either. I'd check out the latest offering from Boston Acoustics as well in that case. External DD 5.1 decoding is definitely a nice feature.
He has an Audigy 2, he doesn't need an external decoder. The quality of the Audigy 2 is superior to what you would find in a hardware decoder in any of these cheap speakers. Also if I'm spending money on speakers I'd like the majority of that money to go towards the speakers, not addon's I don't need.
If he was concerned about sound quality, he'd get a dedicatd HT set-up. The quality difference between any of these "high-end" computer set-ups is like splitting hairs. I've already listed the benefits of having an external decoder, and in those instances, having only analog inputs is restrictive or simply non-practical. Although the analog outputs of the Audigy 2 is excellent, an external decoder is still preferable for DD 5.1 sources, particularly for LFE. If he doesn't think he'd ever make use of an external decoder or digital inputs, then sure, save $20 bucks now and pick up a speaker set with only analog inputs. It'd just be a shame though if he spent $300 on speakers and found a need for digital inputs down the line.............
Chiz
How is the sound quality of the Creative Labs Inspire 5700 5.1 Digital Speakers? They have a digital encoder.
Funny thread. Was just reading an article on maximum pc regrading the use of optical and digital input on speakers as compared to analog. It seems that most sound cards even the Audigy line up (which has the optical outs.) get a tad bit confused with these fancy inputs. What's tried and tested with them is the three analog outputs that we have on our sound cards.
Not to say that I wouldn't want a set of z680 (which i think you can get by the way, free shipping and handling is always GRAVY!) I have a Klipsch 5.1 set and i still want those (albeit for my tv and consoles, but with future games..who knows...)
As a hardcore gamer myself I believe it is worth getting a 5.1 sound system! Epsecially if you want to play Doom 3, which of course many future game companies will be using same as they used the Quake 3, Quake 2 etc. engines to run thier games.
Not to say that I wouldn't want a set of z680 (which i think you can get by the way, free shipping and handling is always GRAVY!) I have a Klipsch 5.1 set and i still want those (albeit for my tv and consoles, but with future games..who knows...)
As a hardcore gamer myself I believe it is worth getting a 5.1 sound system! Epsecially if you want to play Doom 3, which of course many future game companies will be using same as they used the Quake 3, Quake 2 etc. engines to run thier games.
I'm not sure what they meant in that article..got a link to it? I don't read Maximum PC (or any paper-based PC hardware mag) for the same reason I don't read newspapers from last month. Anyways, I'm guessing they mean to say that its difficult to reliably choose the output from the sound card to the speakers. That might be the case with other sound cards, but its not with the Audigy 2. Its as simple as switching the sampling rate from 96KHz to 48KHz and choosing s/pdif output in the Creative AudioHQ settings. There isn't much confusion as to whether or not my receiver is decoding or not, b/c when I switch to DVD/LD inputs, the blue DD/DTS LED lights up and my receiver tells me its decoding in DD 5.1. Oh yah, and then my room rattles b/c the subwoofer says "Hello."
As for the Creative Inspire 5700s, they might be fine for standard usage, but they're rated a bit on the weak-side for the price range (21W center, 7W satellites, 30W Sub). Most of the higher-quality computer set-ups are 100W per channel. Considering most of the options listed above are in that price range, I'd stick with one of those. If DD decoding isn't an option you care for, they should all sound as good as computer speaker set-ups will sound.
Chiz
I know you said under $300, but if you had an extra $59 hanging around, I'd definitely suggest Midiland's S4 8200 v2.0s. AWESOME PC sound setup! I have the first version and I love them. DVDs sound great and game and music are great too. Speakers that do it all! The package includes a DTS/AC3 receiver and a remote! I highly recommend them!
And I couldn't agree with this statement more.
Yea, and all of us that want to drive fast would buy a Lamborghini. Sometimes it isn't in the budget. I'd like to see what kind of HT setup you'd build for $300.
I have never heard them, but I wouldn't buy any Creative speakers that weren't from the Megaworks lines. You can find better speakers from the competition in the lowerend than Creative.
I wasn't arguing for or against going over budget, but claiming one set of computer speakers is better or worse in build quality and sound reproduction in the $300-$400 range is like splitting hairs. Depending on who you ask, one will be preferable over the other. The 680's, PM 5.1's, MW 550's all have nearly identical specifications and power ratings (500W) with different ratings for their center channel, satellites and subwoofers.
The Z-680's are $270 at Amazon, the MW 550's are $274, PM 5.1's are $361, PM 5.1 GMX's are $285. If you sat in a sound stage and listened to each of them blindfolded, I'd think you'd have a hard time telling which was which. I've listened to the PMs and Z-680s (MW 550's are still relatively new), and I don't feel there's that much difference between them. The difference maker for me would be the fact the Z-680's include a decoder in the stock package at a cheaper price.
Bottom line is if he wants to make an informed decision, he needs to go listen to them and then decide what's best for him based on what he hears. Unfortunately, he's going to have a hard time finding 3 or 4 identical set-ups with an Audigy 2 in a side-by-side comparison. If DD decoding isn't important to him, that's fine as well, it would just be a shame if the Audigy 3 came out in October and featured real-time DD 5.1 encoding and digital output similar to the nForce2.
Chiz
I've listened to all 3, and you would have to be close to deaf to not notice a difference. That doesn't mean you will easily be able to pick out which sounds best to you as each set has its strengths and weaknesses, so it basically comes down to personal preference and usage. Of course that phenomenon isn't limited to those 3 sets, someone may like an $85 set more than all 3.
No it wouldn't. The only reason you would ever want DD encoding is if your only option was a digital connection that limits you to stereo. If you have analog connections you will always get the original as it was meant to be surround sound in games without any conversion errors that may occur with the encoding process.
Yes! 5.1 is nearly pointless for your computer unless you're going to watch DVDs. The Front Center channel is meant for on screen voice which is irrelevant for your MP3 collection, and has been implemented in very very few games (I can't even think of one off the top of my head right now). So the only place you'd hear it consistantly is with your DVDs.
So IMHO you should get a set of Klipsch or Logitech 4.1s.
Thorin
The last game I bought was War3. However even if a larger number of games now support 5.1, how often do you actually listen to NPC speaches anyway. As I said IMHO onscreen voice (center channel) is completely pointless if you're a gamer.
Thorin
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